Considerations

I just went through my short list on FB and unfollowed 90% of the noise on there. I also snoozed most places that had posts that I generally just browse when I am totally bored. That is stupid on my part.

I will keep FB for those few neighbors that text me through Messenger or actually have something to say that interests me. So now when I go to FB, I spent less than 60 seconds looking at it. In fact I am going to see how long I can ignore FB! 

IG may be next. I made sure I was not on 'threads' which seems to have taken off but is still run by Zuckerberg's company. They both may be the next thing to go also. I didn't use IG except to post some of my funny stuff and some toy stuff for the Lego folks. Both my sons use IG so I may have to keep it.

I perused BlueSky this morning. Not even sure I want to get into having 'social' media anymore. At least I never joined Twitter and I am super glad I am not on X. 

I will stay here. Blogs are not the rage anymore and who cares about most bloggers anyway? I do. It seems like one of the last places where you can pick and choose what you want to read.

I do enjoy reading about others and what they do daily. 

I visit news sites and read or watch news on my cell phone. Sometimes I get so disgusted that I turn my phone OFF. Then of course I get worried that I'll miss a tracking message for hubby's meds so...dang it. I turn it back on.

At night, the phone goes on top of the spice rack in the kitchen and that is where it stays from 8pm until I get up to start the day. 

Slowly I am making changes to some of the poor habits I picked up. Less internet. More outer world.

My only real bad good habit is Flickr. I've heard that some people are flocking back to Flickr which is a photographer site but also a site that is a social media. People can share ideas, photos, and daily updates basically through photography. I've made friends on Flickr that I've kept for 15 years. Some of them I've met in real life and some only through messages and maybe a real phone call.

I have gone back to writing what I really think of the world in my paper journal. At least that does clear my mind of all sorts of thoughts before I go to bed.

I used to keep a journal for years and years. I still have a box of my journals all the way back to High School, through college, and my first years of marriage which included my thoughts when I gave birth to my first son.

I'll stay here for now. 

Photography is still my release from stress. So I will continue to do it.

Here is Bear, my cold weather hiking companion taking, a rest the other day. He is a very smart Bear. He knows how to just sit and BE. Something I could learn from him.

I wonder if he is meditating?

The weather is milder today so I am going to go out and enjoy the woods.

This view is from a few years ago on an open field when we had snow.

I need some fresh air.

I want to check out a new 'thing' I got for photography. I don't think it will help out much now...however it could be a game changer later this year when the creeks are flowing. A magnetic ND filter and lens cap.

Instead of screwing and unscrewing the filter, you simply attach the magnetic ring to your lens then carry the filter until you want to use it.

The on & off of the filter takes only a second. No fumbling fingers!

Hopefully I can find a place to try it out today. It is up to 22 F this morning! Whoo!

The Annular Solar Eclipse 2021

Yes, I studied for this one because I'd had such good luck with the partial moon eclipse so I thought.

Why not?

I used a free online app to help me decide where to go.

After trying several spots with the little pin, I also used Google Maps to read the height of each of my prospective areas. I knew the rock where I'd shot the moon earlier wouldn't work as there was no clear place to photograph from without trees and a steep drop off.

I drove to the areas at sunrise the day before to scope it out. Lucky for me, there are a few good spots on the ridge yet that allow a decent view. That will change once the corn is 8 ft tall.

I settled on a place that I have used often. I also knew that the owners of the land near where I parked wouldn't get excited when they saw my vehicle there. They are used to me parking near their cattle pen before dawn. 

I brought some friends to watch with me. I had a watch party.

[Well, no one else was willing to get up early and go with me....]

At least they were quiet. I told them not to look at the sun directly. I did grab my sunglasses out of the car but Bear kept dropping them off his face.

Rabbit said they tipped him over.

I've always wanted to do a little thing like this...Pointing UP☝

It is a series of shots through a solar camera filter. ND 100000. 

The other shots were neat also, as you can see the details of the land where I was taking the photos.

Another member of the audience:

Just above an old homestead.

And then what we all were waiting for.

The Annular Solar Partial Eclipse of 2021.

My friends were gleeful and properly awed.

We wrapped up and went home.

It started for us at 5:26 and ended at 5:39 AM.

I am glad I put the extra effort into figuring out where and when I would be and that the weather actually cooperated with me.

Is it too early to plan for a partial Lunar eclipse in November of this year???

Bear Stories

I'm a whimsical person. I do creative stuff on a whim. Yesterday was chilly yucky cold icky grey nasty windy ...did I say icky windy and nasty?

Oddly enough the other half had a headache and didn't feel well. I had phone calls and 'business' to take care of and instead of doing my grocery shopping, I stayed at home to keep an eye on the hubby. He wanted me to stay in the house in case he felt worse.

I got restless and sort of bored so I sorted through a DIY site and found some cool ideas for making a 'bark' vase out of a tin can and yeah...bark.

I made a righteous mess and sat on the kitchen floor with my two sided tape and chunks of bark. The two sided tape was a good idea but I eventually got out the old hot glue gun which doesn't work well, but I did manage to 'make' the vases. Which I decided would look better as fake tree trunks with toys than vases.

I tried making a diorama scene and used Groot and Ricky as my posers. I was not fulfilled and it felt like I failed. Meh. Even with messing with it...meh...bleh.

Being quiet and watchful without being obvious is hard. So I decided to browse some ideas regarding Still Life. 
I found some rather interesting Low Key ideas that represented more of a Noir black and white theme with a Teddy Bear.

OHHHH! I went with the black and white theme as this teddy has been washed down my creek more than once and is kind of a yucky mud/white color. I just thought it was neater in B&W.

Bear leaves sand wherever he sits. Pfft. But the coffee was good.

So my brain went off on a tangent and I wondered about Bear meeting someone and how would Bear act?

OH the Romantic side of Bear!

The pink bear is a one eyed cast off bear I found at Walmart a long time ago. It was stuck on a shelf by itself, all of the other ones were sold. I bought her for a $1. I loved that she was so different.

Time to let the bears have some privacy I guess.

[I like the retro faded look I experimented with. Makes it less real and more like a dream.]

The End.

Hot Cocoa & Making Friends

Sometimes I get a notion and just go with it. 
Chores were done hubby was napping and Charlie was looking for his early afternoon walk. 
It was dreary and overcast.

So I had a notion to try something with one of the Teddy Bears.  

Off we went.

It was cold and damp in the valley so I decided to stop and have some Hot Cocoa.

The past 10 months haven't been easy. Isolation makes a person feel a bit lonely. 

I asked Bear to join me.
He didn't complain.

Bear may not be the best conversationalist but I can tell him anything and he won't tell my secrets. He says he can keep mum. That's the sign of a very good friend.

I tell him I like poetry and I adore the woods. He points out that bears like woods too but he could try to like poetry.

We drink Hot Cocoa and listen to the creek making music over the rocks behind us. It is okay. 

We just sit and watch as Charlie trots around smelling things under the snow.

I ask Bear if he knows Winnie the Pooh. He tells me of course he does. I smile and  think of Winnie the Pooh. Bear is quiet.

When it's time to leave the valley Bear asks for a favor.

I consider it, and then decide it is only fair.

After all, he is such a nice new friend.

A Story

This is a pretty simple one.
Just follow along.

It's Bear-y Time!

Oh wait!

Hot. July.

Berry Briers.

Sweat.

Pokey things.

When I was a little kid and I probably wrote about this before...my mom and Grandma Pearl would get us up on a god awful hot humid and sticky morning.

We'd walk or mom would drive us in the 1965 station wagon to some deep dark woods.

We'd get sprayed with OFF and have to wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, and bandanas over our heads to ward off the horrid deer flies and skeeters...to

pick 

blackcaps.

I think my brother detested these excursions.

I don't know if I disliked them as much as he did. We were given pint paint cans with twine string to use as straps across our shoulders so we could pick with both hands.

We were expected to fill our pints before it got too hot.

I think we worked mostly in silence except for the buzzing of monstrous mosquitoes and deer flies.

At some point in time on one of these trips, I recall having to leave before we filled our pints. Grandma tapped me on the shoulder and pointed.

There was a bear not far off looking at us. Grandma just had us turn slowly and walk away.

At the time I thought it was a pretty cool thing. I'm not sure Grandma did.

So fast forward to 2020. 

There is a patch on my neighbor's land that used to have yellow raspberries, or as my Grandfather called them Golden Raspberries.

Rich and I found them in 2008 and filled a 5 gallon bucket with them. We filled another bucket with blackcaps that year. Back then we could actually drive his truck into the area and pick to our delight.

We came back a third day to pick and found the area decimated. It looked as though a tornado had gone through the patches.

Later on we found out that a wandering bear had come through.

Well I went on Saturday afternoon. To tell you the truth, I like just wandering around the forest and picking berries, or searching for morels. It sort of gives me a purpose to gather food while aimlessly wandering.

So I set out to seek out the yellow raspberries. I hadn't been there in quite a few years so I was curious to see if they were still around. I picked my way down our ridge road and then crossed the fence to the neighbor's untended land.

It was hot  and I knew that I'd be walking through tall grasses so I left Charlie at home. I was really surprise at the amount of wild parsnip that had overgrown the old pastures. Enough so that I had to walk carefully while following a faint trail. I kept thinking to myself ... make yourself tiny!

I was delighted to find my effort rewarded me with some nice patches of blackcaps. I picked and dropped the berries into the ice cream pail with a hole cut in the lid. I had an old leash attached to the handle of the bucket to toss over my shoulders. Not much had changed since I was a little kid. Though instead of going before dawn, I was going midday.

There's a spot where an old oak used to stand over the pasture. It has since crumbled and fallen yet it is like an island of shade. I followed the trails around the edge of it, stepping into the shade to cool off once in a while.

I thought to myself that if I were a kid, this would be the spot that I'd make a fort!

Then I found the spot. After many years, it was overgrown but still there!

I was delighted!

I put my stick down and started to pick.

I heard the UTV's revving up in the valley below and thought to myself that they were loud enough to wake the dead. 

While picking, I'm always aware of my surroundings. Well, I try to be. I looked up as I stepped back out of the bramble.

What?

A black fuzzy pony? No. Wait.

A calf?

No, no cattle in this area any more.

Wait. That.

A black bear Butt!

It trotted off.

At first I thought I had been seeing things. So I followed the trail looking for tracks. I found bear scat.

Hello Bear!

I decided I'd probably picked enough and headed in the opposite direction.

I found more bear scat. I found a patch where the bear had been picking berries too.

Well then.

The Bear could have his patch. 

I walked back [making myself thin as a rail] through the parsnip and golden rod to the snowmobile trail and headed home.

Maybe I'll stick to our woods with the company of the Brat Pack.

Idle day

Rich didn't feel great in the morning, so I hung around close by. I told him that he had 'morning sickness'.
His eyes got wide and he gave me a strange look then said, "I'm not pregnant!" It got him to laugh and I like it when he laughs.
I explained that I thought he was allergic to mornings.

Well.
He doesn't like them. And Friday morning he said he just couldn't do Pulmonary Therapy and he went back to bed. Fighting with depression is tiring and we may be dipping or plateauing right now.
I do what I can.

So, Rabbit and Bear are on my mind again.

So are little things.
Bugs, flowers, seeds...and whatnot.
In our photography group we are playing a game of 'Guess What?'

We post a photo of something close up or a part of something and then take guesses as to what it is.

And I thought I'd pick some spices and sun dry them along with some sunflower heads...

I will open a jar of this thyme and oregano this winter....and smell summer!

Tomorrow is Sunday and I am going to take on some trails at Kickapoo Valley Reserve, that was the plan for Saturday. But since Rich didn't feel well in the morning [he feels better now], I thought I'd stay at home.

I helped the neighbors pick rocks out of the space they are creating to make a soccer practice area.

I took a walk and found Indian Pipes but didn't stay long in the woods. The mosquitoes were vicious.

And if I say they are bad, they are really bad.
I was severely disappointed in our mail system this afternoon. I'd been tracking my converted camera's progress back to me.
That was another reason I waited until Sunday to go to KVR.

My Infrared converted camera was to be returned today. I watched and waited for the postal carrier on the porch.
I checked my email and text messages at 4pm wondering where it was.

The tracking number revealed that the carrier tried to deliver it at 3:07pm but no one was there to sign for it.
This is the 3rd time this year that this carrier simply skips coming to the house. Twice with meds and now this.

I get excuses from the post master. She explained that the carrier had a problem with goats in the road. However she was still able to write a unable to deliver note and drop it in the box. Once it was a cow on the ridge.
I was nice to the post master and simply asked if the rural carrier knew she was in a Rural Area.

Goodness. The UPS guy never has any issues with deliveries. All Rich's overnighted meds now come by UPS as USPS is not very dependable.

I notified the local post office that I'd be in on Monday to get my package. I'm sure IF I let her try again, she'd leave another note.

Well.
Off I go with my Tremor Bright Green Helmet and speedy mountain bike for a new adventure.
Unless my bike spooks, I should be just fine.

Seriously, I can't wait!